STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Baseball (3-1) fell on the wrong side of a Sunday afternoon thriller, dropping their final game against the Butler Bulldogs (1-3) at the Tarleton State Baseball Complex.
Slade McCloud extended his streak of multiple hits for the fourth game in a row, notching two hits against the Bulldogs on Sunday. Jaime Perez tied his season-high with three hits, making it three games in a row with multiple hits for the senior catcher. Perez has recorded an RBI in every game he's played in this season. Lane Brewster also tallied three hits on Sunday and has drawn a walk in all four of his performances during his first season at Tarleton State.
The Texans threw nine different pitchers on Sunday afternoon. Tyler Olson got the start and was relieved by Karsen Davis after 1.2 innings of work. Davis made his Tarleton debut at the mound, pitching a scoreless third inning and allowing only one hit. Ben Bosse and Cort Lowry registered two strikeouts a piece in less than two innings. Ryan Beaird led the Texan bullpen in strikeouts with three.
Butler took an early 2-0 lead at the top of the second inning. At the bottom of the second, Brewster drove in Braden Gostisha for the Texans' first run of the game via an RBI single through the right side. After a scoreless third inning pitched from Davis, the Purple and White regained the lead thanks to back-to-back triples from Tyson Drake and McCloud. Trace Morrison drove in McCloud via a sacrifice fly, giving Tarleton State a 4-3 advantage.
In the bottom of the fourth stanza, Ike Shirey notched a leadoff single. Shirey then stole second base and advanced to third on a balk, setting himself up in scoring position. Blake Wilson capitalized off this by driving in Shirey with a single, extending the lead to two runs.
The Bulldogs achieved a run in the fifth inning to make the ballgame 4-3 in favor of the Texans. The game stayed at 4-3 until the bottom of the seventh, where the Purple and White accumulated two more runs. McCloud hit a leadoff single that was followed by walks from Morrison and Hunter Smith, loading the bases for Tarleton State. Matthew Guthmiller grounded out to drive in McCloud while Morrison scored on a wild pitch shortly after.
The Bulldogs hit a double in the eighth inning and two singles in the ninth to climb back and tie the game up at 6-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth. The Texans were unable to score, sending the game to extra innings for the first time this season.
A leadoff home run for the Bulldogs would give them a 7-6 advantage of the ballgame. Pitcher Andrew Hardin closed out the 10th inning with two consecutive strikeouts, giving the Texans an opportunity to reach within one run. Brewster drew a leadoff walk to start Tarleton State's rally, followed by a single from Mason Kirk which advanced Brewster to second. With runners on first and second and down to the final out, Perez stepped up for the Texans tremendously, hitting an RBI single that scored Brewster. This marked Perez's sixth RBI in three games.
In the 11th inning, Butler put up two runs to take a two-run lead. The Purple and White were unable to recover from this deficit, dropping the final game of the series, 7-9.
Next up, the Texans will play their only neutral site game of the year on Tuesday at La Moderna Field, home of the Cleburne Railroaders (affiliate of the American Association of Professional Baseball). Tickets can be found here.
